Abstract

Relational depth can be defined as 'A state of profound contact and engagement between two people.' The term was coined by Dave Mearns in the 1990s (though many other philosophers and psychologists have written of this in-depth connecting), and was developed in Mearns and Cooper's Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Sage, 2005), which included empirical research on therapists' experiences of in-depth meetings.